Springfield seeks new fire levy

Wednesday

Oct 20, 2010 at 12:01 AM

SPRINGFIELD — On Nov. 2, residents will choose whether or not to continue paying a little extra in property taxes to cover the cost of a 12-person fire engine crew.

The special levy renewal proposes reducing the amount property owners are currently paying by 4 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, thanks to an increase in property values and new construction in the city during the past four years.

Voters first approved the fire levy in 2002. The levy has paid for adding a fifth fire engine crew of 12 firefighter-paramedics to the city’s ranks to fill a gap created in 1997 when the city added a fifth fire station in the Gateway area.

The new fire station was completed at about the time that statewide property tax-limiting measures cut the city’s general fund income by $1.6 million.

At first, firefighters tried to make do, moving an engine crew from the fire station at 28th Street and Centennial to Gateway and leaving just an ambulance crew at the more central station, city finance director Bob Duey said.

But the result was that emergency crew response times increased all across Springfield, so city councilors asked voters to support a special tax levy to fully staff the stations.

Voters approved a four-year levy of 36 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and renewed it in 2006 at 40 cents per $1,000. It will expire in June 2011, if it’s not renewed.

Springfield also pays for a portion of police department and municipal jail costs through a separate special levy.

With the fully staffed fire stations, response times have improved, city officials say. City records from 2007 through 2009 show that emergency crews arrive in five minutes or less 72 percent of the time.

In emergencies, timing is everything, said Mark Walker, deputy chief of EMS and community relations for the Springfield and Eugene fire departments.

For those experiencing heart attacks, the survival rate decreases 10 percent per minute until the patient receives CPR or advanced cardiac life support, Walker said.

Once a fire establishes itself and is in a free-burning phase, it doubles in size every minute, he said.

“A one-minute delay might mean the difference between one room and two rooms being involved,” he said.

City Councilors voted in July to reduce the proposed levy rate to 36 cents, a move that’s possible because of recent growth both in homes and businesses in the city and an increase in assessed property values, Duey said.

Springfield property values increased 9 percent in 2008, 1.9 percent in 2009 and 6.4 percent in 2010, Duey said. He predicts 3 percent annual increases for the next five years.

The City Council doesn’t have a backup plan if voters fail to approve the levy, Duey said.

“They don’t have an official position on that yet. ... Voters have been supportive twice in the past and we’re hoping they will be again,” he said.

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